When Joe Shekarchi lined up the votes to become the next speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, he turned on its head a widely held view about the power of the speakership.
“Many people say that the speaker of the House is the most powerful person in Rhode Island politically. To me, that’s a fallacy,” Shekarchi told supporters at the Crown Plaza in Warwick. “The institution of the House is the most powerful — thank you — is the most powerful institution in government.”
That applause greeting these remarks came during a House Democratic caucus last month. It shows how state reps frustrated by the combustible management style of outgoing Speaker Nicholas Mattiello welcome Skekarchi’s message.
Shekarchi and his top deputy, House Majority Leader Chris Blazejewski (D-Providence), represent a contrast since they are known as affable lawmakers with few enemies.
Rep. Katherine Kazarian (D-East Providence) underscored this change when she supported Shekarchi’s nomination as speaker.
“Under his leadership, the days of being bullied and ostracized will be over,” Kazarian said. “The House will be a place where discussion and differing opinions will be welcome.”
Shekarchi has touted his listening skills and he said he wants to involve more lawmakers in making decisions in the House. But the Warwick Democrat, a 58-year-old lawyer, has been largely non-committal about supporting specific reforms.
As a result, the big question facing the General Assembly session starting next month is whether House and Senate leaders will really share some of their power with other lawmakers.
“The Rhode Island legislature, the biggest problem I’ve always seen is that power is very centralized in the hands of leadership,” said John Marion, executive director of the non-partisan good government group Common Cause of Rhode Island.
In particular, Marion points to how bills get voted on in legislative committees only with the blessing of the House speaker or Senate president. Marion said the chairs of individual committees should have the power to move bills out of committee and onto the floor of the House or Senate.
“And if the membership votes them down, so be it,” he said. “But just allowing things that are guaranteed to pass the floor to come to the floor really isn’t an exercise in what we would think of as a legislature. You know, they’re not deliberating as a body, they’re not having difficult challenging debates as a body.”
Rhode Island’s part-time General Assembly hasn’t been having difficult debates or doing much else for a big part of 2020. That’s despite persistent calls by the legislature’s GOP minority for the ruling Democrats to get back to work during the pandemic.
Now, a brief legislative session is expected later this month to pass a current budget.
And the General Assembly will resume its usual January to June schedule next month, although not at the Statehouse due to concerns about COVID-19. The Senate plans to meet at Rhode Island College’s Sapinsley Hall and the House is considering using Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Both chambers are working toward accepting testimony from the public via video link.
Using new approaches to make the legislature more accessible for regular people is a key concern for some lawmakers. One of those is state Sen. Gayle Goldin, (D-Providence) who made an unsuccessful challenge for Senate president last month.
“We have particularly seen in this year of COVID how difficult it is to have a transparent government, when there is little opportunity for the public to be engaged,” Goldin said. “So I think those are our highest priorities – how we make sure that the public’s voice and the voice of our constituencies are represented in this upcoming legislative session.”
For years, socially conservative Democrats have made up the legislative mainstream on Smith Hill. The legalization of same-sex marriage in 2013, and state-based abortion-rights protection in 2019, came only after grassroots movements pressured lawmakers to act. Now, with progressive candidates making gains in the legislature in recent election cycles, the 2021 General Assembly session is expected to feature sharper debates on taxes, guns and some other controversial issues.
In the House, state Rep. Liana Cassar (D-Barrington), opposed Shekarchi when he staged a caucus to get support to become speaker, and she got only one vote, from herself. Nonetheless, Cassar says there’s a need for systemic change in General Assembly, in part by elevating more women and people of color to serve in leadership roles. She also cites a need for better communication between leadership and reps, and for the General Assembly to better explain the legislative process to citizens.
“So that folks can anticipate when bills are going to be coming up, what the process truly is for moving legislation through, from introduction through a vote on the floor,” Cassar said.
As it stands, she said, “That’s all a bit opaque to the general public and doesn’t really work on a timeline that is predictable, which to some extent really disenfranchises people from being involved in the process.”
For now, in terms of process and policy, there are some signs that top legislators are listening.
With the election of more progressive lawmakers, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio has signaled that he now supports such issues as legalizing marijuana, establishing a $15 an hour minimum wage, and raising taxes on affluent Rhode Islanders.
Senate spokesman Greg Pare said the chamber has tried to bolster transparency while making other improvements.
“Under this Senate leadership, each week’s committee hearings are being posted earlier, and we now require advance posting of Sub. A language (amendments) at least 24 hours in advance,” he said. “Additionally, there is an online alert system on the General Assembly website through which users can sign up to be alerted whenever any action is scheduled on a particular bill. Although not required, the Senate abides by open meetings posting requirements and in almost every case posts hearings at least 48 hours in advance (and usually well more than that). Following the flow of legislation has never been easier.”
In the House, Shekarchi said he’s committed to boosting legislative transparency.
He’s backing regular meetings of the powerful hiring and spending arm of the legislature, the Joint Committee on Legislative Services, which critics say operated as a person fiefdom under outgoing speaker Nicholas Mattiello.
Shekarchi also picked a Black lawmaker who was on the outs with Mattiello, Rep. Ray Hull (D-Providence) to lead a new COVID vaccine task force, and he included a female critic of Mattiello, Rep. Kathy Fogarty (D-South Kingstown) on that task force.
During the caucus last month when he won the support to become speaker, Shekarchi struck a humble note.
“I may not have all the answers,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I know I don’t have all the answers. But I know all the answers are out there, in all of you. I need each and every one of you to help me.”
Talk of reform echoes through the Statehouse every now and then, usually when there’s a change in the role of speaker or Senate president.
But the true test will come when legislative leaders unveil their proposed rules for governing the separate chambers of the General Assembly early in the new session. That will show whether they’re really serious about sharing more of their power with other lawmakers.
Ian Donnis covers politics for The Public’s Radio. He can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org. This is an expanded version of a story airing on the radio.
